


always for the first time

by lostin_space



Series: my 12 (actually 13) days of gifts [2]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:15:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21792862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space
Summary: “You’ve been fussing over this for days,” Max said, gently pulling her away from all the things strewn across the table. She had created a makeshift lab in the spare bedroom of his‒their‒house and she had been taking advantage of it. Too much advantage if you asked him. “Take a break.”
Relationships: Max Evans/Liz Ortecho
Series: my 12 (actually 13) days of gifts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569967
Comments: 21
Kudos: 30





	always for the first time

**Author's Note:**

> day 2 of my 12 (actually 13) days! this time the prompt was also very old and a request for romantic echo with malex bursting in!
> 
> special thanks to [angsty-aliens](http://angsty-aliens.tumblr.com//) for helping me come up with a damn idea

“Max, stop!”

He did not.

Max hung onto Liz from behind, almost completely bent over to bury his face in her neck. She did a poor job of trying to shrug him off. But, then again, maybe she wasn’t really trying. 

“You’ve been fussing over this for days,” Max said, gently pulling her away from all the things strewn across the table. She had created a makeshift lab in the spare bedroom of his‒their‒house and she had been taking advantage of it. Too much advantage if you asked him. “Take a break.”

“I need to focus.”

“ _Take_ a _break_ ,” he pushed, pulling her out of the lab. She didn’t really fight him as much as she laughed. 

“Alright, you stole me away from my work, you better make it worth my while,” Liz threatened in quite possibly the least threatening way. He continued to drag her towards the living room. She always came alive in that room.

The living room was the only room in the house without any particular purpose. It wasn’t her lab where she worked, it wasn’t the bedroom where she slept, it wasn’t the kitchen where they cooked. It was just open, free space that filled with light and made her _glow_ like something otherworldly. He enjoyed those little moments.

“I love you,” he promised, pressing a kiss to her neck and behind her ear and to the side of her head. She hummed happily in response, melting against him just a little more. “Will you just let me distract you?”

“Maybe,” Liz laughed, squeezing his hand that pressed against her stomach. Then she let go, breaking free of his hold and falling onto the couch. 

Max smiled down at her as she got comfortable with her arm behind her head. She lifted her chin in a confident little way. He breathed slow and prepared to do whatever she requested. Technically, he was _always_ prepared to do whatever she wanted, but this felt like an important time to do it even more so.

“Impress me,” she said.

Max chuckled, “What?”

“You heard me,” she laughed, shifting just a little bit on the couch, “Impress me. Do something to entertain me, writer boy.”

“Okay, none of that,” he laughed, running his hand through his hair, “But I’ll try to do something.”

She got comfortable.

Max raked his mind for something she might want to hear. He settled on a poem by Andre Breton, something far less embarrassing than anything he could write on his own. He might tell her one of those one day, perhaps a day that felt less like he was putting on a show.

_“Always for the first time, hardly do I know you by sight,”_ he began. A wide smile pulled at her lips that told him she either knew it or knew what he was getting at. Either way, he decided to run with it and knelt beside her. _“You return at some hour of the night to a house at an angle to my window, a wholly imaginary house. It is there that from one second to the next, in the inviolate darkness, I anticipate once more the fascinating rift occurring, the one and only rift, in the facade and in my heart, the closer I come to you in reality.”_

Max went on, speaking the poem as dramatically as he could. She basked in it and laughed at him, letting him be over the top. He grabbed her hand and he threw his arm out, announcing to the world that he loved her via poem. The poem wove a tale of uncertainty that he no longer had, but the love felt true enough. It felt relevant enough.

It felt right enough.

_“My finding the secret of loving you. Always for the first time,_ ” he finished, close to her face with her hand pressed over his heart. She was smiling at him all big and bright and full of love. The sun was shining in and making her glow like it always did. She somehow was always in the part of the room that it shined first. Yet, still, her smile was brighter.

And he loved her.

And he loved her.

And he _loved_ her.

“Marry me,” he added. It most certainly was not apart of the poem.

Her eyes widened and her lips parted in a small gasp. Fear filled him at her shock and he became all too aware that he didn’t have a ring. But he’d already asked, there was no going back now.

“Marry me,” he repeated, “If you want, I can buy you a ring and ask you again, but I’m looking at you right now and my stomach kinda hurts and I feel very overwhelmed with everything I feel for you and I just want everyone to know that I love you with my entire existence.”

“Max,” she breathed.

Before she could even get an emotion on her face, they were interrupted.

“Are we interrupting something?” 

Max and Liz both looked in the direction of the glass door where Michael and Alex were standing. Michael was inside further and Alex had a hand on his arm, still trying to pull him away to avoid ruining their moment even more. It was too late for that.

“Yeah,” Max sighed, “You are.”

“Cool, Liz, you said you needed help on that serum,” Michael said, completely ignoring them. Liz gulped and adjusted, struggling to take her eyes off of Max.

“I sent that to you 5 hours ago and you didn’t respond.”

“I was in the bunker, I just got it before I came,” Michael said with a shrug. He looked between the two of them again. Max glared.

“I think they were in the middle of something serious,” Alex said. 

“Yeah, we were,” Max stated firmly. Michael didn’t really look all too interested in what Max had to say and kept his focus on Liz. She shook her head, shaking off the daze that Max had put her in. God damn it.

“Go wait for me in the lab, I’ll be there in a minute,” Liz told him softly. Michael shot her a pair of lazy finger guns before walking past them to Max’s spare bedroom.

“Sorry,” Alex threw out, though it was about as sincere as Michael was. At least he tried.

Max sighed and turned to face Liz for a moment before standing up.

“We can talk about it later,” he said weakly, giving a little smile to show he wasn’t too upset. He really, really was, but she didn’t need to know that. It wasn’t like he was planning or anything. It just felt right. Then it didn’t.

“Wait, Max,” she said, standing up after him and grabbing his arms, “Yes.”

Max furrowed his eyebrows. “Yes?”

“Yes. I’ll marry you,” Liz told him, smiling her sweet little smile. He felt like his heart was going to explode. “But, yes, we’ll talk later.”

As much as Max would’ve liked a big dramatic kiss, the little peck on the cheek felt just as satisfying.

She said yes.

**Author's Note:**

> also on my tumblr: spaceskam


End file.
